RSN Master Class with Owen Davies

On the way back from the USA we stopped for three days in London. We took one day to visit Buckingham Palace - which was a wonderful, unforgettable day in spite of the scorching 90+ degree F temperatures! We'd made our reservation for early in the day so there weren't many people outside the gate for this photo. We visited the Queen's Gallery, the Royal Mews and the Palace, seeing historic rooms, artwork and furniture.The real reason we stopped in London was so I could attend a 2 day Masterclass with Owen Davies at the RSN and so Steve could go do a bit of train spotting. We each had two wonderful days pursuing our hobbies and one day together enjoying Buckingham Palace!The Masterclass was entitled, "An Elizabethan Broderer". Owen Davies, who was our tutor, is a member of the Worshipful Company of Broderers, a graduate of the RSN and has written a book entitled Embroidered Knot Gardens. (Sadly no longer available through the usual sellers.)The focus of this masterclass was how English embroidery was influenced by the explorations of Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Frances Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir John Hawkins. Owen had taken days to set up the classroom with a huge map of the world, showing us where these men had traveled. As you can see from the photo below, he included portraits of the explorers, Queen Elizabeth I and other notable historic figures of the age.Owen also generously brought along pieces from his own collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean embroidery, as well as part of his extensive collection of books about embroidery from that time period. The classroom was an inspiring place in which to learn! We all took a short quiz at the beginning of the course and again at the end, happily discovering that we'd learned quite a lot in addition to embroidery in the two days!The design we drew inspiration from is a sweet bag from the early 17th century. We would be using wool and long and short stitch - as was done during the Jacobean period, when crewelwork became all the rage - to interpret a design originally done in silks and metal threads on the sweet bag.We all began by tracing the design onto a sheet of heavy tracing paper, the closest thing that can be found to replicate velum, which is what would have been used in the past. Once the design was drawn, we then pricked and pounced three flowers onto a long length of linen twill.We would be working each flower separately during the masterclass but were given more than enough linen twill to transfer the whole design onto a separate piece and more than enough wool to embroider the entire design.The highlight of the two days was actually seeing the 17th century sweet bag and hearing the story of how Owen acquired it. He came across it in an antique shop where, although the owner knew what it was, she was asking a minimal amount for it.Owen saw it and decided to think it over before purchasing it. (None of us could believe that he didn't buy it on the spot!)He went home, emailed a colleague about the bag and got an email back in a matter of seconds which suggested in might be a good purchase to make. Which, happily for us,  he did!It really is in fantastic condition and we all thoroughly enjoyed being able to closely examine something so beautiful and so old.It was interesting to learn how to make a design that was done in tent stitch work in long and short shading. So often, when we take inspiration from an historic piece of embroidery, we simply try to copy it as best we can. The idea of taking a piece and using different materials and techniques was interesting and opened up new ways of thinking about old designs or pieces.Owen took lots of time to demonstrate, both to the group and to each of us individually. When one works with someone as accomplished and experienced as Owen - or many of the other RSN tutors - you pick up little tips and methods of doing things that are often not found in books.Owen was generous with materials and supplies, his time, his knowledge and his passion for embroidery. I highly recommend a class with him!Next time, long and short shading on my Pineapple crewelwork design!